Topic: Martian Dutch East India Company opens colony Biz!

[Stormbringer]

New Company Launches With Aim of Colonizing Mars
By Ker Than
Staff Writer
posted: 08 September 2005
11:45 am ET
 

A new center that aims to be a cross between a museum and an amusement park may soon allow people to explore a Martian settlement without ever having to leave Earth.

 

The Martian research and outreach center will be operated by Four Frontiers, a new Florida-based space commerce company whose main objective is the establishment of a permanent human settlement on Mars.

 

“We see ourselves as the pioneers of the new space frontier,” said Four Frontiers’ CEO Mark Homnick. “We follow in the path made by the early explorers such as NASA and the ESA. We settle in the new land, we turn it into a home and add value.”

 

Four Frontiers is headed by many of the same people who helped establish the Mars Foundation, the non-profit organization who earlier this year presented detailed plans for a Martian settlement the group called the “Homestead Project.”

 

But whereas the Homestead Project was narrowly focused on designing a settlement capable of sustaining a small group of initial Martian settlers, Four Frontiers will have a broader perspective, its member said.

 

 “We want to establish the Mars settlement envisioned by the Mars Foundation because we view it as the essential element that will help open up the rest of the solar system,” said Joseph Palaia, the company’s Vice President of Operations. “But there is a wealth of opportunity beyond that that we are looking at.”

 

The company is named after the emerging inner-solar system economy that its members believe will soon develop, one that will be driven by the convergence of four frontiers: Earth, the Moon, Mars—including its two moons, Phobos and Deimos—and Asteroids.

 

“The beginnings of the solar system economy are happening as we speak,” Homnick told Space.com. “This is not something that’s fifty or one hundred years away, this is something that’s going to be happening in the next couple decades.”

 

Homnick said Four Frontiers’ focus will be on the technology and design of the Martian settlement. The business of getting to Mars will be left to other companies that Four Frontiers will then partner up with.

 

The company’s 5-year goals include the construction of a 2,500-square-foot replica of a Martian settlement here on Earth. Unlike similar projects aiming to simulate Martian conditions, Four Frontier’s center will be located near a metropolitan area and will be open to the public.

 

The center will serve as a source of revenue for the developing company as well as educate and inspire the public and garner support for the project.

 

“Folks wont’ just be on the outside, they’ll be able to literally walk through a Martian settlement,” Homnick said. “They’ll be able to see it, touch it and understand that its feasible with our current technology.”

 

The company is currently scouting out locations for the center in Florida, Colorado and New Mexico and plans to make a final decision by the end of the year. The center is scheduled to open in mid-2007.

 

Four Frontiers will also have a research and development section that will focus on the production of core technologies necessary for Martian colonization, but which could also have uses in the other frontiers like the Moon and asteroids.

 

In addition to research and outreach, the company also plans to act as a consultant to manufacturers and government agencies that want to participate in the new inner-solar system economy.

 

The group believes a Martian settlement could be established as soon as 2025 if the cost of private launch vehicles continues to drop as predicted.

 

Homnick said Four Frontiers is currently looking to recruit a few enthusiastic individuals to join the company.

 

“If you’ve got freedom in your heart, courage to face the unknown, and discipline to deliver, contact us, and perhaps we can realize our dreams together,” he said

[E_Look]

Sounds cool... cautiously.

So far, all we've got here in NYC is the Mars 2112 restaurant, with a "ride" consisting of a video on a screen and moving seats before you get into the restaurant.  The food is so so, but the decor is a cool almost retro space motif.

I hope they upgrade now that there are more serious endeavors afoot.

[Stormbringer]

SpaceX to Tackle Fully Resusable Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 08 September 2005
04:25 pm ET
 

Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) announced today that it will develop a Falcon 9 booster – an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) class vehicle.

 

A key goal of SpaceX is developing a family of launch vehicles intended to increase the reliability and reduce the cost of access to space by a factor of ten.

 

SpaceX, headquartered in El Segundo, California, is bankrolled and run by Elon Musk, a successful entrepreneur that among past activities co-founded PayPal, a leading electronic payment system.

 

According to a press statement detailing company plans, the Falcon 9 would be capable of launching approximately 21,000 pounds (9,500 kilograms) to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in its medium configuration and 55,000 pounds (25,000 kilograms) to LEO in its heavy configuration, a lift capacity “greater than any other launch vehicle,” the SpaceX statement said.

 

In the medium configuration, Falcon 9 would be priced at $27 million per flight with a 12 ft (3.6 m) fairing and $35 million with a 17 ft fairing.  Prices include all launch range and third party insurance costs, making Falcon 9 the most cost efficient vehicle in its class worldwide.

 

First booster, yet-to-fly
 

SpaceX initially intended to follow its first vehicle development, Falcon 1, with the intermediate class Falcon 5 launch vehicle. 

 

But the company now explains that, in response to customer requirements for low cost enhanced launch capability, SpaceX has accelerated development of an EELV-class vehicle. Therefore it is upgrading Falcon 5 to Falcon 9. 

 

According to the company statement, SpaceX has sold Falcon 9 to a U.S. government customer. SpaceX still plans to make Falcon 5 available in late 2007.

 

The announcement today comes at a time when the company has yet to fly its Falcon 1 booster.

 

The maiden launch for Falcon 1 is now scheduled for fall of this year from the SpaceX island launch complex in the Kwajalein Atoll. A second Falcon 1 mission is slated to follow a classified launch of a Titan 4 booster from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

 

Falconeering the future
 

Musk told SPACE.com that Falcon 9 is intended for three roles:

 

-All sizes of Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) satellites, including commercial and government customers.

-Heavy LEO satellites, which are mainly U.S. Department of Defense spacecraft.

-Resupply of the International Space Station with cargo and later crew transportation.

 

“The prices we are showing do not account for reusability, so I’m hopeful that we will be able to reduce costs significantly over time.  Also, this is still the first generation of our propulsion technology,” Musk said. The SpaceX Merlin 2 engine will benefit from a very significant thrust upgrade and also be considerably cheaper per pound of thrust than Merlin 1, he said. 

 

“As a result, the generation of rockets based on Merlin 2 will be much cheaper per unit mass to orbit than the Falcon line, which is based on Merlin 1,” Musk said.

 

Musk noted that the goal of SpaceX is to make Mars colonization affordable.

 

That means growing to super-heavy 100-plus ton lift, super-cheap and super-reliable launcher, Musk said. “Falcon 1 was the first step and Falcon 9 is the second step.”

[NJAntman]

Whats the reusable part of it?

[Stormbringer]

Heck if I know. I posted it for the Mars angle.

[Nemesis]

Link to Space for Falcon 1, 5 and 9 data

For the Falcon 1 and 5 the first stage parachutes back for reuse.  They don't mention this with the Falcon 9 and its variants.  However the Falcon 5 is supposed to be a Falcon 9 with 4 fewer engines installed and less fuel in the tank, so in theory the 9 should use the same recovery system. 

[Tus-XC]

Falcon 1 will be launching Falcon sat 2 (AFA micro sat).  Cadets Majoring in Astronautical Engineering get a choice to build a satilite or launch a rocket.  I'm going for the rocket (my classes goal is to be the first university to launch a rocket in LEO).   Just some FYI

[Nemesis]

Maxed out Falcon 9 launcher.  Spaceship 3 return stage.  Fully resuable passenger shuttle?

[Bonk]

Homnick said Four Frontiers’ focus will be on the technology and design of the Martian settlement. The business of getting to Mars will be left to other companies that Four Frontiers will then partner up with.

Awfully presumptuous. If I were to develop a company capable of reliable transport to Mars, I'm not so sure I'd be willing to just hand over the profits for the production of the settlements as well, whose to say their designs would even be compatible with any transportation systems developed? Sounds like a bunch of folks with too much inheritance and not enough to do to me.

[Nemesis]

Awfully presumptuous. If I were to develop a company capable of reliable transport to Mars, I'm not so sure I'd be willing to just hand over the profits for the production of the settlements as well, whose to say their designs would even be compatible with any transportation systems developed? Sounds like a bunch of folks with too much inheritance and not enough to do to me.

Dot Com replaced by Dot Space?

I think that companies like SpaceX, Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic with solid buisiness plans and their own funding are much more likely candidates to take the next step in space.

There are others like Armadillo and Bigelow that might also fit that category.  If not now then perhaps soon.

[Stormbringer]

Awfully presumptuous. If I were to develop a company capable of reliable transport to Mars, I'm not so sure I'd be willing to just hand over the profits for the production of the settlements as well, whose to say their designs would even be compatible with any transportation systems developed? Sounds like a bunch of folks with too much inheritance and not enough to do to me.

Dot Com replaced by Dot Space?

I think that companies like SpaceX, Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic with solid buisiness plans and their own funding are much more likely candidates to take the next step in space.

There are others like Armadillo and Bigelow that might also fit that category.  If not now then perhaps soon.

I'm pretty sure Bigelow will. they have product not vaporware. and it is something NASA and any colonists  or Japanese spacehotel moguls will need.

[Nemesis]

I'm pretty sure Bigelow will. they have product not vaporware. and it is something NASA and any colonists  or Japanese spacehotel moguls will need.

SpaceX knows that there is a market for reliable low cost satellite, cargo and probe launches.  They are working towards a known market.  Virgin Galactic is speculating more.  They are hoping that there is a market that can support them.  There is some indication that they are right but the market is not yet confirmed.

The reason I put Bigelow in the inbetween class is that like the Martian group they are working on a later stage while assuming that the earlier stages will be ready by the time they need them.  They are assuming others can launch the stations for them that others can bring the passengers.  Between SpaceX and Virgin Galactic I think that Bigelow will get those earlier stages provided for them but they are not working on it themselves.   There are also other groups like Armadillo that might fill in for either SpaceX or Virgin Galactic if either fails so Bigelow does have a fall back. 

For the would be Mars miners I think that they have too many steps in between that they are only hoping will be worked out by someone else.  Even if someone does work it out there is no reason for them to expect to be needed.  Too many failure points in their plans and too few plans to handle them.

[Nemesis]

Link to full article

“To the best of my knowledge, every booster engine qualification program in history has had numerous failures of the kind that recently occurred with Merlin, so this is not unusual,” Musk said.

Oddly, the chamber that failed was chamber 13, Musk said. “We believe it was due to a variance in manufacturing, given that the prior 12 worked fine. To address this issue, we are adding additional quality assurance tests and increasing film cooling flow as a failsafe.”

Due to the engine qualification failure, Musk said the premier flight of Falcon 1 is to be pushed back a few weeks “to late versus early October as we verify the effectiveness of the above changes. We are taking no chances.”

Merlin was developed internally at SpaceX, but draws upon a long heritage of space proven engines. For example, the fuel injector design at the heart of the engine was first used in the Apollo lunar module landing engine.